Yellow ants - effective biological weapons

Thanks to raising weaver ants, the grapefruit garden of a farmer in Vinh Long grows well without the need for pesticides, giving a stable yield of 3 tons/acre, with the rate of best quality fruit (800g or more) equivalent to using chemicals. Photo: Ho Thao.

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In recent years, the area and yield of citrus trees in the Mekong Delta have decreased sharply due to disease, causing serious losses for gardeners.

According to experts, the most common diseases on citrus trees are yellowing of the green veins and yellowing of the roots. Infected trees often show signs of exhaustion, leaf loss, small, deformed fruit, and difficulty in selling. The cause is due to improper cultivation techniques by gardeners, combined with the impact of insects, fungi in the soil, and the overuse of chemical fertilizers.

Sharing about solutions to prevent harmful organisms in citrus orchards, Dr. Nguyen Phuc Thai, Deputy Head of the Faculty of Agriculture - Cuu Long University said: In addition to using pesticides, farmers can take advantage of natural enemies to control harmful organisms, in which raising weaver ants is the simplest and easiest solution to implement.

Clean pests, beautiful balls

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In fact, in Vinh Long, some gardeners have applied the weaver ant farming model and found surprising results: gardens with few pests and diseases, large and beautiful fruits, increased productivity without using much pesticides.

Mr. Nguyen Van Tuan (My Hoa commune, Binh Minh town, Vinh Long province) shared: Before, he had to spend tens of millions of dong each year to buy pesticides and chemical fertilizers, but his grapefruit garden was still poor. Especially in the rainy season, stem borers were rampant, causing damage of up to 30% of the fruit yield. After researching online, Mr. Tuan started experimenting with raising weaver ants in his grapefruit garden. After a short time, he noticed a clear improvement in his grapefruit garden.

"During the rainy season, I don't need to spray pesticides, but the grapefruit yield still reaches 3 tons per hectare (1 hectare = 1,000m2), equivalent to when using chemicals. Moreover, the fruit is glossy, juicy, and sweeter than before," said Mr. Tuan.

According to Mr. Tuan, raising yellow ants is very simple, just need to be persistent, absolutely do not spray chemicals because the ants will die or leave. At the same time, in the garden, you should not plant plants with pungent smells such as lemongrass, perilla, basil... because yellow ants hate these smells.

Every year, Mr. Son saves millions of dong by releasing ants to destroy harmful organisms in his tangerine garden. Photo: Ho Thao.

In Tra Vinh , thanks to the application of the weaver ant farming model, people have gradually restored the province's tangerine growing areas. Besides, weaver ant farming also helps farmers reduce the work of caring for the plants.

Mr. Le Thanh Son (Binh Phu commune, Cang Long district, Tra Vinh province) said that due to old age and no one to help, he decided to experiment with the model of raising weaver ants on a tangerine garden intercropped with mangosteen.

Since the weaver ants covered the tangerine garden, harmful organisms such as stink bugs, aphids, beetles, leafminers, mealybugs, stink ants, etc. have all been completely destroyed. Thanks to that, his family's tangerine garden does not have to use pesticides, but is almost 100% pest-free.

"In particular, without using pesticides, the tangerines still bear fruit naturally during the dry season, without rotting or falling off due to the heat of pesticides. Thanks to that, the garden has fruit all year round, so the gardeners have a regular income," said Mr. Son.

According to Mr. Son, to create favorable conditions for ants to develop, in addition to limiting the use of toxic pesticides, it is necessary to maintain a stable garden environment.

Specifically, this old farmer uses nylon ropes stretched between trees to create paths for ants, helping them move around the garden. In addition, during the dry season, he supplements the ants' food with chicken intestines, duck intestines or animal waste, but does not feed them too much to avoid making the ants lazy to hunt.

Mr. Son added that although yellow ants mainly nest in trees, they often crawl down to the ground to find food and make secondary nests. Thanks to that, the soil has more air circulation, helping the roots breathe easier and grow stronger. They also bring back to the nest all kinds of things like dead insects and rotten leaves, which over time decompose to help the soil become looser and more fertile.

"Raising yellow ants not only brings many benefits to the health of the soil, but also balances the ecosystem, protects the environment and reduces investment costs," Mr. Son affirmed.

Farmers are still hesitant

According to Dr. Nguyen Phuc Thai, weaver ants are highly effective biological weapons but have not been applied by many gardeners.

Firstly, because weaver ants also attack people, it is inconvenient to harvest, especially tourist gardens are afraid to apply it for fear of affecting visitors. Raising weaver ants makes it difficult to take care of trees because ants nest in trees, so when pruning and harvesting fruit, farmers are easily bitten or entangled by ants. Secondly, raising ants is not effective immediately, while spraying pesticides is more effective and results are seen immediately.

"Not to mention, yellow ants tend to raise mealybugs for honeydew, which unintentionally causes the aphids to thrive and harm crops. At the same time, they also overwhelm other natural enemies such as ladybugs and parasitic wasps, causing ecological imbalance in the garden. Therefore, farmers are hesitant to apply the solution of raising yellow ants," said Dr. Thai.

Dr. Nguyen Phuc Thai affirmed that despite some limitations, the use of weaver ants contributes to reducing the amount of residual chemicals in products, saving costs and improving the quality of agricultural products. This is also an important trend in the development of green and sustainable agriculture.

Demonstration model of raising weaver ants to control pests in tangerine gardens implemented by Tra Vinh Department of Science and Technology in Binh Phu commune, Cang Long district. Photo: Ho Thao.

According to Mr. Tran Van Ut Tam, Deputy Director of Tra Vinh Department of Science and Technology, the current area of ​​tangerine in Binh Phu commune is only about 65 hectares, a decrease of more than half compared to before. The Department is surveying the current situation of tangerine cultivation, understanding the difficulties and development potential to come up with appropriate solutions.

The locality has begun to apply the method of raising weaver ants instead of pesticides and has initially seen very clear results. Weaver ants are especially suitable for citrus trees such as grapefruit, oranges, and tangerines. They destroy harmful organisms, helping farmers significantly reduce costs, limit the use of pesticides, and ensure safe and beautiful fruit.

"In the coming time, we will expand the weaver ant farming model to citrus gardens in the province. At the same time, we will implement demonstration models on newly planted gardens and fruit-bearing gardens, helping people learn practical experience to build a sustainable tangerine growing process, improve productivity and fruit quality," said Mr. Tran Van Ut - Deputy Director of Tra Vinh Department of Science and Technology.

Source: https://nongnghiep.vn/kien-vang--vu-khi-sinh-hoc-hieu-qua-d745723.html